The Young
by Charlotte1
Summary: The burdens of parenthood are hitting the Rulers of Middle-Earth hard. It would seem their teenaged children are in serious need of refining, but as they are sent away to learn how to behave as young Lords and Ladies ought to, something... Please R&R!


Title: The Young  
  
Disclaimer: Aside from the words and OCs, I own nothing  
  
Summary: The burdens of parenthood are hitting the Rulers of Middle-Earth hard. It would seem their teenaged children are in serious need of refining, but as they are sent away to learn how to behave as young Lords and Ladies ought to, they are thrown into an adventure that might end up preventing the biggest war of their time...  
  
The Young  
  
Chapter One  
  
Arien, oldest daughter of King Elessar and Queen Arwen, opened her right eye to a slit and looked up at her ceiling. After a few moments of seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she closed it once more in an effort to seek the dream she had just been rudely awoken from, but moments later she felt it again. Angrily this time, she opened her right eye once more and looked up. Nothing! With a groan she rolled over heavily in her bed and sighed deeply, wishing that her head would cease throbbing so. –Splash-  
  
"Oh what is that accursed dripping?" she groaned and lifted her aching head from the pillows. She looked down at her bare feet and wriggled her toes around, realising that the bottom of her sheets were soaked. With yet another groan she heaved herself onto her elbows and looked at the sheets with a very disgruntled expression. " Wonderful, a leak," she finally uttered and threw her heavy blankets and furs off herself. As she sat up she swayed unsurely for a few moments before setting her jaw firmly and standing up. For a moment a cold shiver ran up her spine as her feet touched the cold marble, but it was too late to climb back into bed now. So she hopped over to her bathroom and ran a warm bath, hoping that might soothe her aching temples.  
  
No such luck, half an hour later she climbed out once more and grumbled incessantly as she pulled on a simple gown and some comfortable boots. She forced her long hair up on top of her head and headed off with yet more grumbles. If she had wished to make it to the dining hall undisturbed then she was in for a nasty surprise as halfway there the sound of laughter stopped her in her tracks.  
  
"Oh no," she exclaimed, her eyes darting around trying to find some means of escape, but unfortunately for the girl, there was no such good fortune. Before she had time to flee the way she came three young girls came bounding down the corridor.  
  
"Arien!" one of the girl's dark-haired little sisters cheered.  
  
"Why do you look ill?" the second dark-haired sister demanded. Arien furrowed her brow as for a moment it would seem there were six children standing before her where there ought to be three. Her momentary dizziness was not aided by the fact that her little sisters were in fact identical, so that she could not figure out when her vision was restoring, but eventually she managed to focus on the children.  
  
"I must be tired," she eventually lied. Laurelin and Silmarien looked totally unconvinced, but instead of pressing the matter turned on their companion, their blonde-haired friend from Rohan Rían, the youngest child of King Éomer and Queen Lothiriel, and dragged her away. Arien sighed with relief and stumbled on to the dining hall. As she entered she was disappointed to find that none of her companions were yet awake and she settled down next to Amwing, a very old man who had once been a Ranger.  
  
"Good morning my lady," he said in his usual scratchy voice; yet he managed to convey the fondness he felt for the fifteen-year-old daughter of his king. "I trust you slept well, though you cannot have enjoyed many hours sleep, as I retired before you returned from the lower tiers with your friends." Arien shrugged.  
  
"Was papa angry that we were...delayed?" she asked as she rubbed her temples. Amwing smiled wryly and shrugged.  
  
"He did mention that flogging was on the agenda if he found out you had or your brother had stepped foot inside the Silver Swan again," he said cheerfully. Arien smiled sheepishly and accepted the bowl of stew Amwing was handing her.  
  
"Ah, then I might have to spend the day avoiding him," she said tucking into the stew greedily. Amwing chuckled and looked behind the girl, 'Too late,' he thought to himself.  
  
"Young lady." Arien's eyes went wide and she spun around to find her father standing with his arms crossed a few feet away. " A word?" She gulped and laid her plate down before climbing to her feet and joining the King of the Reunited Kingdom on a walk out across the courtyard that lay next to the grand dining hall. " I believe that you have a lot of explaining to do."  
  
"About what?" Arien asked with feigned-innocence. Aragorn laughed dryly.  
  
"About why I found your brother sleeping in the fountain in the central court, or why Elboron and Elfwine were found snoring with the horses in the stables, or why young Dior was found only in his britches flat on his back beyond consciousness in the throne room?" Arien managed to suppress her laughter even though her father looked slightly amused. " I have not yet heard any word of your female companions, but I daresay Éomer and Faramir will have my head if they find their daughters in similar...precarious situations to their sons!"  
  
"Perhaps Eldarion took the lads out to a few of Minas Tirith's well known taverns as a cultural expedition?" she suggested. Aragorn fixed her with his most sarcastic glare. "Well why must you automatically assume that I was involved?" Arien demanded, changing tack. "Eldarion is two years my senior, he is old enough to do as he wishes."  
  
"Yet in all the devious misdemeanours I have found you two in, you have always been the brains of the operation," Aragorn countered almost affectionately. His second child pouted before him and hung her head. " I daresay that our guests will not be eager to visit again once they have learned of what you youngsters got up to last night. They will tell me once more that you are a bad influence!" Arien smirked despite herself.  
  
"I still say that I am innocent," she said as cheerfully as she could manage. Aragorn cocked one eyebrow at the teenager.  
  
"Indeed?" he asked. "Well then prey tell me child how Arthalion came to see all seven of you in the Silver Swan around midnight?"  
  
"Ah..."  
  
"Ah indeed my lady," Aragorn said and he shook his head. "I know not what to do with you. Even if I were to lock you up in the tallest tower of Minas Tirith I can be assured that you would find a way to escape and seek out mischief once more." At this Arien had the decency to look slightly alarmed.  
  
"Mamma would never allow it," she said quickly. To her surprise Aragorn laughed and shook his head.  
  
"No, though it would be amusing while it lasted," he sighed. A silence followed in which Arien's stomach growled loudly. "Go on then, be off with you. When Eldarion wakes from his stupor in the fountain, I wish to see you both in my study." Arien nodded obediently and rushed off to devour the rest of her breakfast. Upon entering the dining hall she was delighted to find one of her companions at last had awoken, and with a blush she realised it was the one she most wanted to see and yet the one she least wanted to talk to. Her head hanging sheepishly she crossed the hall and sat down opposite the youngest son of King Éomer and Queen Lothiriel.  
  
"So what were you doing in the throne room in nothing save your britches?" the princess asked the young man sitting opposite her. She looked up into his hazel eyes and immediately looked away again.  
  
"To tell you the truth princess, I cannot recall," sixteen-year-old Dior Éomerson replied with a worried frown. He rubbed the back of his head as he desperately tried to remember what had befallen him the night before, dislodging some unruly dark hair from behind his ears. Arien smiled at him in adoration. "In all honesty I cannot remember anything that happened after we left the...oh what was it called? It was the tavern with all the uh..." The young man turned crimson. "Busty wenches..." Arien grinned.  
  
"That was the Cracked Tumbler, it is normally a respectable drinking hole," she explained. "Well, after that we ambled up to the third tier where your sister, Ellena and I decided we would retire. I believe I heard my brother pressing for a visit to the brothel on the fourth tier as we returned home." Dior's face paled and he opened and closed his mouth wordlessly.  
  
"You don't think I...?" he began and Arien burst out laughing.  
  
"No!" she giggled. "They do not allow Eldarion to cross the threshold on order of my father. Every time he frequents the town's night life he attempts to sneak in," she explained. Dior visibly crumpled in relief and nodded.  
  
"Well that's a small relief," he sighed and the two met each other's gaze once more. Again Arien could not maintain it and she looked away blushing furiously. They ate in silence until two girls stumbled tiredly into the dining hall and, avoiding the furious stares of their parents, rushed up to the other end of the long table and dropped down by their friends.  
  
"My head hurts so much," Ellena, the youngest child of Faramir and Eowyn of Ithilien, uttered rubbing her forehead, her expression one of agony. Arien smiled fondly at her and rubbed her shoulder looking across the table to Dior's twin sister Miriel was looking quite refreshed.  
  
"Why are you not suffering?" she asked accusingly. Miriel smiled brightly and shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"This is not my first visit to a tavern my friend," she said cheerfully. Dior sniggered, something that earned him an elbow in his ribs. He groaned and swatted at his sister angrily.  
  
"Don't hurt me because you spend more time drinking with the riders than either Elfwine or I," he complained. This time he was quicker than the girl and he grabbed her elbow before it could connect.  
  
"I do not!" Miriel complained. Dior looked across the table at where both Ellena and Arien were watching him with expressions of sheer admiration.  
  
"She does, she is trying to impress them," he said pinning his sister's arms down to stop her from smacking him. " Father thinks it's disgraceful...Ow!" Miriel had escaped his grasp and he fell silent nursing his sore arm. Once more silence followed and the youngsters ate in an attempt to still the feelings of sickness that were washing over them. They were nearly finished when bickering voices filled the hall. Four expectant faces looked up and the three final members of their 'gang' entered the dining hall. They looked ruffled yet not as ill as their younger siblings. Finally after smiling charmingly at their mothers they reached the younger teenagers and dropped down with them.  
  
"You smell terrible!" Ellena complained as her older brother Elboron reached past her to grab the bread. He laughed roguishly and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, ruffling her hair with his other hand. She squeaked and pushed him off, beaming at him as she did so.  
  
"Well we did wake up on the not so pleasant side of a horse," Elfwine yawned and he stretched. "I'm telling you, we were this close to waking up in an even worse state than we did," he said motioning a few inches with his fingers.  
  
"True, at least you had the good fortune to wake up in a fountain," Elboron said looking across the table to an exhausted Eldarion. The young man grinned dryly.  
  
"I would not call it so, I have not encountered father yet," he uttered tiredly.  
  
"I have," Arien said quickly. " He wishes to see us in his study!" Eldarion groaned and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"Wonderful... I wonder what he will say this time."  
  
X X X  
  
"You're sending us away?" both Eldarion and Arien demanded, matching horrified expressions on their faces. This was bad.  
  
X X X  
  
What do you think? Worth carrying on?  
  
PS Lady scribe of Avendell – I agree, I didn't really like the names, so now I've replaced most with names from the Silmarillion. Elves never named their children after other people, but seeing as most of these are human or at least half-human, I thought it would be okay. Human's regularly reused names. This problem for me is that the main character 'Arien' was previously Mayda Arian. I have written an AU version of LOTR ( and LOTS of little childhood stories) to include my OC Mayda Arian. She was the daughter of Aragorn and the lover of Faramir (yeah, totally replaced Eowyn there, which is a shame, I love Eowyn's character) and her name was Mayda. I stole her name for my story 'The heir of Théodred' so now I'm writing this character who is more true to my original Mayda and it feels weird calling her something else, but hey...long pointless explanation :D 


End file.
